House Lawmakers Take a Second Shot at Curbing Trump’s Iran War

The House of Representatives voted 214-208 to pass another War Powers Resolution to once again call on President Donald Trump to remove United States forces from Iran.

As lawmakers leave Washington, D.C., for the month of August, the chamber’s final vote underscored growing opposition to the war as U.S. military operations continue. The latest War Powers Resolution, much like the one passed in June, is largely symbolic. The Senate failed to advance a companion resolution just hours later.

What's Different About This Resolution?

Although this may seem repetitive if the resolution does not immediately alter military efforts, Representative Greg Casar (D-TX) said there is a good reason why House Democrats fought to bring it to the floor.

“It’s because Donald Trump keeps saying he ran to end wars, then starting new wars and then restarting the Iran War,” Rep. Casar told Texas Politics in an interview.

The second resolution follows nearly two weeks of sustained fighting between Iran and the U.S., during which four U.S. servicemembers were killed last week, bringing the total number of American military deaths since the war began to 18.

Rep. Casar, who also serves as the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said the caucus had several of its members file War Powers Resolutions after passing the first one in anticipation of a terminated ceasefire.

“Many of our members filed more War Powers resolutions for a moment just like this one,” he said. “So that when Trump restarted this war, and more of our servicemembers were killed and injured, we could call for another vote. And that is exactly what we did today.”

Nearly all Democrats voted in favor of the resolution, joined by four Republicans. However, Rep. Casar said most of the party will head home tomorrow for summer recess and will have to explain why they voted to “put servicemembers' lives at risk” and “jack up gas prices.”

“The vast majority of Republicans did not follow their consciences and did not listen to their constituents and voted instead just to keep on spending billions more dollars on this war,” Rep. Casar said.